Douglas of Mouswald

The earliest reference to Mouswald yet ascertained takes us back to
the time of Alexander II., and is thus cited in the Calendar of
Documents relating to Scotland (vol. i. Wo. 1684): "Richard de
Bancori quit claims to his lord Robert de Brus and his heirs, the
whole land of Loyerwode by these bounds, viz., from Pollnilin as far
as Blakebeck, as the half of the moss extends and from said half of
the moss as far as the water of Loyer with a certain common pasture
in the fee of Comlongan which the said Robert's men of Musfaud were
wont to have from the grantor in farm for one mark yearly. Saving to
the granter his wood in . . . . .gigo as before the date hereof.
Appends his seal. Witnesses Sir Adam de .Carnoto, Sir David.de
Parco, Sir Umfridus de Kirkepatric, Sir Roger de Kirkepatric, Sir
William de St Michael, Sir Engram de Musseus, James the Clerk, and
others."

Although not mentioned here, the Carruthers family have had
connections with Mouswald from this time.

"John of Carruthirs " is mentioned as one of those who in 1398
became responsible for the Earl - of Douglas, as warden of the West
Marches. The occasion was that of a meeting of certain Scottish and
English commissioners at " Cloekmabane Stano," in the parish of
Gretna (Fosdera, vol. viii. p. 58, ed. 1727; and Gal. of Docs,
relating to Scotland, vol. iv. No. 512).

Archibald, Earl of
Douglas, Lord of Annandale and Galloway, appears to have been in the
habit of making considerable grants of land to his esquires, for in
the interval between 1409 and 1424 Gilbert Grierson (Greresoun), one
of them, -received " Mekildaltoun " and Dorrnont; whilst in the case
of Mouswald the feudal ties between the Carruthers family and his
own were strengthened by no less than six grants of lands, "
containing together the several lands here following, viz., those of
Mousewal, Middleby, and Dornock, with the patronage of these three
parish churches, and the lands of Hetland-hill, Logan-tenement,
Hodholm, Tunyrgarth, Westwood, and Roclef, all held of the granter,
and renderingas follows :—for Mousewal, Hetland-hill, and
Logan-tenement three silver pennies yearly ' nomine albae firme,' in
the parish church of Moussald, and for the rest the services used
and wont." Dated at Louchmabene, Dec. 4, 1411 (Original produced in
LOG. of Mo/at, 1852).

So far as Mouswald itself is concerned, the usually accepted
derivation has been Mosswald, or wood on the moss (wald = weald,
wood, forest, cf. Bosworth's Anglo-Saxon Dictionary).

The
traditions of the neighbourhood still tell of a great oak forest
which spread from Mouswald by Torthorwald as far as Tinwald Kirk at
least, so dense that it is said a man might have traversed the
distance from tree to tree without ever putting foot to ground.

The sorry tale of how Mouswald came into the Douglas family is told
elsewhere, but in
summary, two neighbouring families hoped to obtain of Mouswald
Castle on the death in 1548 of Sir Simon Carruthers,
10th Baron of Mouswald. These were the Douglas
family of Drumlanrig and the Maxwell family of Caerlaverock Castle.
Before his death Sir Simon Carruthers, the Baron of Mouswald Castle
had given consent for
Sir James Douglas,
8th Laird of Drumlanrig, to marry his daughter Lady Marion. This
she refused to do.

Nonetheless, Sir James Douglas sued for his 'just' inheritance and
won his case. The new laird of Mouswald was ere long
accused of a deed of blood, in the murder of a scion of the older
stock. On 2nd January 1617, John Carruthers of Dormont was
slaughtered "with shottis of hagbuttis and pistolats," in the
dwelling-house of John Mundell, Torthorwald. All the accused were
Mouswald people, and amongst them were James Douglas of Mouswald,
John and William Grierson his servants, also John Carlyle in Banks
and Thomas his son, John Blak in Mouswald, &c.None of these
appeared, but Habbie Eae, Peter M'Key, servitor to the Laird of Lag,
and some twenty others, did so. It seems probable that the crime may
have arisen out of a quarrel induced by the unhallowed success of
the'Douglases in acquiring Mouswald

Sir James Douglas, 1st of Mouswald, was succeeded by his son, Sir
James, brother to the 1st
Earl of Queensberry. The title was conveyed in 1613. This James
married twice, his second wife being Helena Grierson, by whom he had
James, 3rd of Mouswald.

Panel over Door of Grierson Burialplace, Mouswald Church
commemorating James Douglas and Agnes Rome

James Douglas, 3rd of Mouswald, married Agnes Rome,
daughter of John Rome of Dalswinton-Holm, and they had 10
children, two of whom succeeded to the title.

Their eldest son, also James, married in 1654 Janet Laurie, but he
died predeceasing his father without children. William, the second
son, succeeded in about 1667 as 4th baron, but he died in 1670, also
without children.

The title then fell to the 3rd son, John, who became 5th baron of
Mouswald. He too died without children. His brothers, Archibald and
Robert had presumably died before him, because the title then fell,
in 1692, to his niece, Elizabeth, Robert's daughter.

Mouswald. (Extracted from The Herladry of the Douglases by G. Harvey
Johnston

Sir James Douglas second son of Sir James Douglas
of Drumlanrig, and brother of first Earl of Queensberry, obtained
Mouswald from his father, 7th and 8th October 1608.

In 1615
he married Helena, eldest daughter of Sir William Grierson of Lag.
His son : — James Douglas of Mouswald, M.P., 1644-47, married in
1627 Agnes Rome, and had : — (a) James (below)(b)
William Douglas of Mouswald, (b 1649, Cockpen) living 1663. (dsp?)
(c) John Douglas of Mouswald was retoured heir to his father

James and his brother William, 28th February 1674, he was also
again retoured to his father 21st November 1676. He resigned the
lands of Mouswald to the Earl of Queensberry, 24th February 1674.

(d) Robert Douglas, married and had a daughter Elizabeth,
who on 9th February 1692 was served heir to her uncle George, and in
same year to her uncle Archibald. (e) Archibald Douglas.
(f) George Douglas.

(g) Nicolas Douglas.

James Douglas of Mouswald, married,
1654, Janet, daughter of Laurie of Maxwellton, and died in his
father's lifetime, s.p.

The above from " The Barony of
Mouswald and its Barons," by John J. Reid, B.A., F.S. A.Scot.
{Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of 1888-89).

Note: Sir Simon Carruthers, 8th of Mouswald (d 1504) married a
daughter of Douglas of Drumlanrig, possibly the
4th Laird.